Vinyl Destination
by TheGreatTate
Summary: What happens when Jenny listens to rock music?
1. Cleaning House

**Disclaimer: I do not own the show or any part of it. The music in this story does not belong to me from a creator's standpoint, and the respective artists will be credited. A true staff member would write a personal episode, not a piece of fan fiction. Enjoy.**

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 **Vinyl Destination**

 **Chapter 1: Cleaning House**

 **11:50 AM**

 **On a Saturday**

 **Tremorton, PA**

 **Jenny's POV**

Sheldon invited me over on a Saturday afternoon to help clean out his closet. Our sophomore year was coming to a close, and he sought for a personal reconstruction to enter his second half with, and for some reason, he felt like starting off with his closet. " _New clothes, new shoes, new Sheldon,_ " he told me over the phone.

"Why do you need my help?" I didn't have anything against helping him out, but it wasn't even a truly messy scenario. An able-bodied human could have done the job in ten minutes or less.

"Well, I don't need any actual help, but it's always nice to talk with you."

"...Fair enough." I zipped from my house and into his room through the window (over which he had hung an awesome sign that reads " _Jenny's Door_ " above due to my constant popping in and out). "What's up?"

"Nothing much. Just some soul-searching, I suppose." He smiled while taking some shirts off their hangers and setting them aside. He seemed very pleased with this cleanse. "Haven't you ever thought about changing some stuff around?"

"Huh, not really. I've been very content."

"I just think some stuff needs to change in my life." He sifted through some old baseball cards.

"Like what, exactly? Is something troubling you?"

"No. I just wanna do something that makes me feel mature. Think about it, Jenny; after summer, we're no longer underclass. We'll be of the older half. The wiser half. For some reason, I just don't feel super wise."

"What if wisdom is something that just happens?"

"Maybe it is, but I feel as though there's still something to be done." He pushed a few small boxes aside and stopped at a large one. For a moment, it was as though he had frozen in time with a gigantic smile.

"Sheldon? What is it?" He scooted the box out and pushed it to my feet.

"It's my old record player. Totally forgot I had it. The records might be somewhere around here!" The happy scientist ambitiously funneled through the nostalgia rubble. "Hey, here they are!" He proudly exclaimed while tugging a massive crate out from the tiny room.

"How did you find these?" I asked, vividly. There were only a couple times in my life when I had actually seen vinyl albums, and about half of those were from film reels of the 60's in history.

"They've been passed down for several generations. I would listen to them all the time while working in the garage! When I have kids someday, they'll get to hold these." He turned to me and noticed my excitement. "Feel free to look at them and see if there are any you recognize." I yanked the plastic lid off and did just that. They were so beautiful. I wanted to learn everything about them. Sadly, I didn't recognize any of the names, so I read them out loud in hopes that Sheldon could school me.

"What is _Close To The Edge?_ " I was puzzled.

"Haven't you ever heard of Yes, Jenny?"

" _Yes?_ "

"Yes!"

"No. Who are they?"

"Heh, only one of the best progressive rock groups **_ever!_** "

"Progressive rock? What's that?" I observed the album from all sides, soaking in the artwork; every last detail. Much green.

"The best."

"Of what?"

"You decide." He smiled at how naive I sounded. I didn't know how to follow up. "Jen, if you want, you can borrow them." If only I could explain the excitement being experienced.

"Are you serious?"

"Of course! Why wouldn't I be? It's what friends do."

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely. I know they're in good hands."

"You sure you don't want them?"

"Completely forgot I even had them. Keep them for however long you want, doesn't really matter to me... just, give them back when I have kids."

"Of course."


	2. Jenny Lane

**Chapter 2: Jenny Lane**

 **Sheldon and I hung out for quite some time, doing virtually no work to his closet. He educated me on a few albums and their artwork, but left their actual quality open to my interpretation. After talking for about an hour more, Mom phoned in and told me to come home. I thanked Sheldon for having me over, gave him a big hug, scooped up the record crate in one arm, turntable in the other, then safely flew back to the house.**

"XJ-9, why were you out so late? You told me you'd come home right after school."

"I'm **_so sorry_** , mom. I got caught up in a conversation with Sheld-"

"You told me that you'd be coming home _**right**_ after school!"

"I **_did!_** I was here for, a moment, but you know, Sheldon just wanted to talk."

"What on Earth could somebody talk for _**seventy-two minutes**_ about?"

"Well, he was cleaning out his closet, and then, uh-" I sheepishly grinned and set the records on the floor, "-we started talking music. Turns out he has quite a collection!" She knelt down and began flipping through the selection.

"Well, whaddya' know. This is the music of my elders! Oh, how they would play their tunes through the house as I ran around and frollicked to the sweet, soothing, stimulating sounds..."

"Really? Now I _**really**_ can't wait to hear them!"

"Oh, XJ-9, I'm afraid you must return these vinyl circles to that boy, immediately! I can't have you actually _**listen**_ to them!"

" _ **What?! But, why?**_ You just went on about how _**amazing**_ they are!"

"I'm saying this for your own good, XJ- I mean, _**Jenny**_. My elders were absolute _**lunatics!**_ This music has unforseen powers that you're simply not programmed to take. Once you hear it, you'll _**never**_ be the same!" My emotions swelled.

" _ **I listen to music all the time, Mom!**_ Why can't I listen to _**this?**_ "

"Jenny, you _**think**_ you know music. You don't... _**Sheldon**_ knows music! I'm telling you this for your own good. _**Real**_ music is mind and software altering!"

"Well, what if I don't believe you?"

"I can't make you believe anything you don't, sweetie... but, if you're so certain that nothing will happen, then I won't stop you from the truth."

"Oh _**thank you, Mom!**_ I think you _**finally**_ understand me!" I gave her an ironclad hug and ran off with the records to my room. It was time to get started.


	3. Natural Selection

**Chapter 3: Natural Selection**

Mom's words were chilling, foreboding, and superstitious sounding, but they weren't quite enough to sway me. I sat the turntable down on my dresser and the records on my bed to keep sifting through them.

For the first listening, I searched for the most exquisite, eye-popping art, simultaneously rifleing through Sheldon's musical tidbits, considering such advice as "Joy Division's _Unknown Pleasures_ is best for nightly listening, Cream is premo for loosening up (hopefully not in the literal sense), _Maggot Brain_ is most useful for life contemplation (or thoughts of most kind), and _Beggar's Banquet_ is like Vietnam all over again (whatever that's supposed to mean). I must say that _Freak Out!_ was perhaps the most eye-popping, but is, and I quote Sheldon, "most definitely an afternoon album, but high noon if at all possible. Be careful while listening to side four, for it can blow even the hardiest of minds."

Seeing as the sun was setting, I began probing for something ambient. With the ease that one would apply to infant care, I fingered around until I came across a double-album called _Quadrophenia_ , which I believed had a nice tang to it. _Quadrophenia_. It's fun to say.

I plugged the record player in and plugged an auxillary cord into the port. I triple-checked the disc to make sure that it was starting on side one, album one ("it's a rock opera, and therefore not a laughing matter"). My headphones emerged and assembled into position as I plugged the other end of the aux cable into the side of my head. Finally, the moment came for me to start. The player powered on, and the record began rotating. I laid back on my mattress and smiled, giddy and excited for the music to begin.


	4. Feel Flows

**Chapter 4: Feel Flows**

The first song starts off with sounds of the sea; waves pounding the shore, surf soaking through sand, maybe even a seagull squawk in the distance. Okay, pretty ambient. Not exactly what I thought "rock music" was supposed to be like.

Suddenly however, the next song kicked a giant hole open in my heart-drive. The singer was running about and asking people if they could see "the **_real_ ** me," with a battalion of drums covering him from all sides. It seared my mind, for I was able to sympathize. He knew the struggle all too well. I shivered, but never sat up. His reasoning was so eerily similar to what I used to put up with. By the end of the song, tears were forming in my eyes, though they didn't dribble out. They refused, denying my wishes to let emotions flow.

As I came to learn, the album was about a teenaged outcast who comes around to letting the world around him discover who he was. Along his journey, he comes across former idols and hypocrites, distasteful authority figures, and the true spirit of individuality. What a guy. What a person. What a soul. If only I had one to pour. For the rest of the side, I was hooked.

Then, the time to flip it came, so I turned it over, and became further enamored. The third was even more breathtaking, until the final track of the final side, "Love Reign O'er Me," made me shiver with excitement, bliss, and woe. Never before has music made me jerk tears. I didn't even know such power existed. It made me think of things well beyond my understanding, such as my purpose, the friends I love and the enemies I despise. What the future holds.

I had to hear more.

 _ **7 Hours Later...**_

 **Albums listened to: **

**_There's A Riot Goin' On_ \- Sly & the Family Stone**

 ** _Fool For The City_ \- Foghat**

 ** _Surf's Up_ \- The Beach Boys**

 ** _Safe As Milk_ \- Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band**

 ** _OK Computer_ \- Radiohead**

 ** _White Light/White Heat_ \- The Velvet Underground**

 ** _Ocean Rain_ \- Echo & The Bunnymen**

 ** _The Soft Parade_ \- The Doors**

 ** _Lazer Guided Melodies_ \- Spiritualized**

Whoever you are Sheldon... you've set me free. Whatever you're doing, it's for the best. However you are, I thank thee. Tonight, my journey of a thousand miles has begun. Thanks to you. I can't wait to talk tomorrow. I can't.

 _ ***Knock! Knock!***_ Somebody's at my door.

"Jenny? Are you okay in there?"


	5. Blue

**Chapter 5: Blue**

" _Hello? **Hello?** Is there anybody in there? Just nod if you can hear me!_ " _***Knock! Knock! Creeeak!***_ " _I prepared your favorite dinner... **hours** ago!_ " I came to with Mom rattling the hell out of me.

"M- ** _mom?_** What's going on?"

"Oh thank Jobs, XJ-9! I didn't know if you were gonna come to. Was worried you might require jumper cables."

"What are you doing?"

"Saving your life-functions, I think. I hope it wasn't the case, but you've been in a sleep-mode state for quite some time. You were trapped in a Floyd-hole when I found you!"

"A Floyd-hole? What even?"

"Based on the stories of my ancestors, it's a cosmic state of mind obtained during the first listening of a Pink Floyd album." She picked up the nearest sleeve and examined it; _Wish You Were Here_.

"How could I have possibly changed music while out?"

"Bodies are capable of many inexplicable processes. You could be capable of performing actions _**while**_ asleep!"

"Do you really think that's plausible, Mom?"

"XJ, I may be a mad scientist, but I'm certainly not a _**crazy**_ one! And speaking of crazy, do you believe me now when I say that music is no good?"

" _ **What?**_ Why do you say that?"

"It shut you off! You were powered off for _**hours!** _ Your internal clock doesn't experience such hiccups!"

"Well, maybe I'm just not the perfect girl you see me as!" I regretted saying that instantly.

"X. J. 9! There's not a single imperfection to be found in your programming! The only imperfection is _**you**. Why didn't I make you to be **normal? You should have been normal!**_ " She erupted, immediately plastering her hands in her face afterward. I could tell she immensely regretted saying such words, but still I let my emotions get the best of me. I gently lifted mother off the ground, took several paces with her in my hands, set her down outside my room, and slowly closed the door in her face. I crawled back onto my bed, buried my face in my legs, and wept, not knowing what to do or how to feel. Did I listen to rock music because I was terrible, or was I terrible because I listened to rock music?

Music was sprawled all around me. A lake of sound. Now, it's sink or swim.


	6. Sheldon The Wise Man

**Chapter 6: Sheldon the Wise Man**

 ** _Several days had passed since my altercation with mom. I had decidedly powered myself off to piece my mind back together. When the contemplation period concluded, things became clear. I knew what had to be done._**

 ** _"Sheldon?"_ I cried, knocking on his closed garage door. He came out through the side.**

 **"What's going on, Jenny? You don't sound good."**

 **"This is horrible, Sheldon. Horrible, terrible. Something's come up and I don't know what to do."**

 **"Well, wanna come inside and talk?"**

 **"Yeah. That might help." I followed him into his own Warhol workshop, where he appeared to be in the middle of his newest metal sculpture. "What's the problem?"**

 **"Your records, Sheldon... they're amazing."**

 **"So, why are you upset?"**

 **"Because they've transformed me. They've given me a new outlook on life, love... everything!"**

 **"You're upset because the records helped you see things differently? In your opinion, for the better?"**

 **"No. My mother... I feel so alienated from her, now. She doesn't approve of me listening to them. She says they'll turn me into someone I'm not."**

 **"That's normal, Jenny. Parents will always disapprove of what the next generation gets into. When I'm a father, I'll reject the trends, and when you build kids of your own, it'll be the same."**

 **"But this music is not a mere _trend,_ Sheldon! If everybody hears it, that could change the whole world!"**

 **"Everybody did listen to those, back when they came out, Jenny. We're growing up in a world that has to some degree been changed by rock, even if it was a century ago."**

 **"I just know that something needs to be done. It's an injustice that we settle for modern music-"**

 **"-Which has been inspired and influenced by that generation."**

 **"I never saw the resemblance."**

 **"There isn't any, really."**

 **" _Exactly!_ Rock music must make a comeback!"**

 **"Jenny, it's a new era. People like what they like. One can't change that."**

 **"But shouldn't people at least be able to give it a _chance_ before dissing it? Don't they deserve to at least _hear_ it, first?"**

 **"Well, sure-"**

 **"Then by God, I'll make 'em hear it!" Jenny stormed out of the garage and back to her house. Sheldon felt uneasy about her tactics, but he didn't dare stop the ex machina. When she was in "can-do mode," there was no stopping her.**


End file.
